These I still see the point of putting up. It’s not like the USSC is about to rule to strike down restrictions… OK, that joke is simply not going to work this early in the (snowed-in) day. Short version: nine of ten, the Democrats managed to make up some of their deficit in the economy category (hey, that joke worked!), and I conclude that Government Ethics requires more in the way of prolonged scandals on the Democratic side in order to move public perceptions off of its current default.
| Jan-10 | Dec-09 | ||||||
| Issue | Dem | GOP | Diff | Dem | GOP | Diff | Shift |
| Health Care | 37% | 49% | (12) | 42% | 44% | (2) | (10) |
| Education | 36% | 40% | (4) | 41% | 39% | 2 | (6) |
| Social Security | 35% | 45% | (10) | 41% | 41% | – | (10) |
| Abortion | 32% | 46% | (14) | 38% | 43% | (5) | (9) |
| Economy | 42% | 46% | (4) | 36% | 48% | (12) | 8 |
| Taxes | 34% | 50% | (16) | 36% | 47% | (11) | (5) |
| Iraq | 38% | 46% | (8) | 38% | 45% | (7) | (1) |
| Nat’l Security | 40% | 49% | (9) | 37% | 50% | (13) | 4 |
| Gov’t Ethics | 33% | 30% | 3 | 31% | 34% | (3) | 6 |
| Immigration | 36% | 43% | (7) | 33% | 45% | (12) | 5 |
More after the fold.
There are two sets of comments, here. In the short term, it makes a lot of sense for the Democrats to shift from health care to the economy: their focus on the former did them no favors. Of course, given that it’s an open question whether that’s actually smart. Every time the Democrats focus on something, it ends up alarming the American voting public. Don’t believe me? Look at this comparison between this month and May’s (the first month that I started looking at this):
| Jan-10 | May-09 | ||||||
| Issue | Dem | GOP | Diff | Dem | GOP | Diff | Shift |
| Health Care | 37% | 49% | (12) | 53% | 35% | 18 | (30) |
| Education | 36% | 40% | (4) | 49% | 36% | 13 | (17) |
| Social Security | 35% | 45% | (10) | 48% | 39% | 9 | (19) |
| Abortion | 32% | 46% | (14) | 41% | 41% | – | (14) |
| Economy | 42% | 46% | (4) | 44% | 43% | 1 | (5) |
| Taxes | 34% | 50% | (16) | 41% | 47% | (6) | (10) |
| Iraq | 38% | 46% | (8) | 41% | 43% | (2) | (6) |
| Nat’l Security | 40% | 49% | (9) | 41% | 48% | (7) | (2) |
| Gov’t Ethics | 33% | 30% | 3 | 40% | 29% | 11 | (8) |
| Immigration | 36% | 43% | (7) | 36% | 37% | (1) | (6) |
It’s admittedly not as bad for the Democrats as a comparison from 2008 would be, but I refuse to believe that the Democrats intended to drop thirty points in health care in less than a year. Particularly in defense of a policy that isn’t even going to work. In the long term, 2009 turned out to be a disaster for the Democrats from a public relations point of view; it would probably be a good idea if they swallowed hard, made a clean break with their current policies, and accept the short-term fallout with good grace and soft words.
No, I don’t expect that to happen, either.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
Your analysis all assumes Democrats are smart, which is highly doubtful. Ideologues aren’t known for deep thoughts.
Hey! Smile when you write that: I’m an ideologue. 🙂